House sketch, Cushing's Island, ca. 1883

This house was never built. M.S. Gibson was the manager of the Ottawa House Hotel on Cushing's Island and he commissioned noted architect John Calvin Stevens to design cottages on the island. Three were built and were Stevens' first works on the island.

John Calvin Stevens (1855-1940) made an indelible mark on American architecture. Through his "Examples of Domestic Architecture," written in 1889 with partner Albert W. Cobb, Stevens helped popularize the Shingle Style, examples which abound on Cape Elizabeth and Cushing's Island.